A record number of Sedgwick County voters turned out to vote early Tuesday, the first day the county’s 15 satellite sites were open to voters.
Election Commissioner Tabitha Lehman told Sedgwick County Commissioners at their meeting Wednesday that just under 10,000 people participated.
As of Wednesday morning, officials said close to 20 percent of registered voters in Sedgwick County had already cast ballots. Lehman said that equates to nearly 60,000 people. But, Lehman said, there are still close to 22,000 ballots her office has mailed out that have yet to be returned.
"At this point, I would recommend, instead of putting them in mail, just go ahead to your closest early voting location and drop that off there. They will bring that back to our office each night," she said. "That way you can know for sure that it reaches us and it’s not delayed in the mail system."
Lehman said some locations reported people waiting for up to 30 minutes to use voting machines, even though paper ballots are still an option.
“If you want to do that, that’s your choice, but you can still vote that paper ballot and walk out the door and be done quickly, so we just want to make sure that everybody knows of that option," Lehman said.
The election office will be open until 7 p.m. for advance voting through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m on Saturday, and from 8 a.m. till noon on Monday. To be counted, all ballots must be at the election office by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
--
Follow Abigail Beckman on Twitter @AbigailKMUW.
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.
